skills-dev

Skills Upgrading

Skill building, as a process towards getting a job, is something seriously lacking in our education system. For rural women or those from economically weaker backgrounds, manual labor is still the most easily available work. There is a great need to properly skill this significantly large workforce so that they can become a major part of the economy through desk-oriented jobs.

Skill building, as a process towards getting a job, is something seriously lacking in our education system.

Our findings

Skill building, as a process towards getting a job, is something seriously lacking in our education system. While private players do make an effort towards hands-on training, the formal and traditional education system is definitely lacking in this regard.

This deficiency, when coupled with the trouble women in Nepal generally face when looking for a job, spells dire consequences. When the group of women we are talking about hails from economically lower or from rural backgrounds, the problems are endless. For these women, manual labor is still the most easily available work. There is a great need to properly skill this significantly large workforce so that they can become a major part of the economy through desk-oriented jobs.

The troubles rural women are facing in this regard and the number of vocational opportunities available in the education market, which can change the direction of employment for these women.

Shortfalls in the education system working against rural women

People seek education for gaining knowledge, building insight, and becoming financially sufficient to fulfill daily needs. Here is the list of various problems faced by economically backward women which paints a dismal picture of employability:

  • The formal education system in Nepal often is geared towards creating learning opportunities for those who have the resources to access it
  • Women from economically weaker or marginalized backgrounds grow up experiencing discrimination in access to learning opportunities, economic resources and time
  • In a situation where a family’s meager resources need to be prioritized, boys get preference in being supported towards seeking education. Girls grow up accepting their lot in life and make do with whatever learning opportunity is on offer locally and stop at the level up to which it is available, which may be only up to high school in several cases
  • The education system has been unable to provide suitable and locally relevant programmes to women from economically weaker backgrounds due to lack of vision on the part of policy makers at the central level and local administration
  • Therefore, programmes for skilling women were restricted to tailoring, incense stick making, soap making etc. Finding a market for the products was left to the women. The training did not include marketing strategies. So, these programmes could not make an impact in the economic empowerment of women
  • Some courses offered through the government-run Industrial Training Institutes are rarely accessed by women or girls due to the fact that the trades for which training is offered are mostly traditional male bastions

Skill based training

  • Sewing Training
  • Candle Making Training
  • Mushroom Farming Training
  • Vermicompost Production Training
  • Soap Making Training
  • Dairy Product Processing Training
  • Liquid Soap Training
  • Domestic Animal and Poultry Rearing
  • Floriculture Training
  • Fish Farming

Outcome

Skills bases training has improved the overall financial well being of women. Such training has enabled women to become better entrepreneurs and provide them opportunities to start their own business. This has resulted for the women who have become financially independent and create  sustainable income for themselves  and their family. This has also increased employment opportunities for women in rural Nepal.

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